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Transition
Transition | Iain M Banks
4 posts | 13 read | 2 to read
There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers? Among those operatives are Temudjin Oh, of mysterious Mongolian origins, an un-killable assassin who journeys between the peaks of Nepal, a version of Victorian London and the dark palaces of Venice under snow; Adrian Cubbish, a restlessly greedy City trader; and a nameless, faceless state-sponsored torturer known only as the Philosopher, who moves between time zones with sinister ease. Then there are those who question the Concern: the bandit queen Mrs. Mulverhill, roaming the worlds recruiting rebels to her side; and Patient 8262, under sedation and feigning madness in a forgotten hospital ward, in hiding from a dirty past. There is a world that needs help; but whether it needs the Concern is a different matter.
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review
TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Transition | Iain M Banks
post image
Mehso-so

First: ALL THE TRIGGERS. Great narrator but graphic sex, torture, and assault made this a hard listen.

The Concern runs operatives throughout the multiverse who can flit between bodies on infinite Earths. The rebel forces of Mrs Mulverhill try to stop Madame d'Ortalan's coup of the Concern's ruling council.

Banks is a genius but the format, lengthy monologues from character often tangential to the main action, left me cold.

Cont. in comments

TobeyTheScavengerMonk Also a lot of accurate and unsubtle commentary about life in the early 2000s, the torture acting as a reflection of Abu Ghraib. And something about... aliens maybe? Like there aren't any aliens in the book but a lot of characters seem to be motivated by fear of them? Something? 7y
55 likes1 comment
quote
TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Transition | Iain M Banks
post image

#firstlineofcurrentread Technically the first line of my #currentLISTEN #anditsaugust

merelybookish That's a good opener! 7y
hlgreenfield Just that first line makes me want to read it 7y
PirateJenny I love unreliable narrators! 7y
minkyb Great start! 7y
78 likes4 comments